The Two Faces of Walter Dukes, 1963
https://from-way-downtown.com/2021/10/11/the-two-faces-of-walter-dukes-1963/ Posted by bobkuska October 11, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized Tags: 1960s NBA , Detroit Pistons , Dick McGuire , Don Ohl , Hal Butler , New York Knicks , Nick Kerbawy , Red Rocha , Walter Dukes [In the late 1970s, New York sportswriter Phil Pepe wrote a column about Walter Dukes. As many in New York remembered, Dukes had starred on the hardwood for nearby Seton Hall in the 1950s, and the Knicks grabbed him in the 1953 college draft, ready for his lean, 6-foot-11 frame to serve a cornerstone for a future NBA title. “I was asking for $20,000 [rough;y $200,000 today],” Dukes remembered his negotiations with the Knicks. “I had an offer from the Globetrotters for $55,000 , but I was willing to take twenty from the Knicks because I wanted to play in the NBA. We got hung up over $3,000.” The hang up forced Dukes onto the vaudeville circuit with the Globetrotters for two years. But he eventually...